BloodrayneZA
Well-Known Member
I got inspired to write this article, after arguing with my inner self over how the world has changed in 20 years.
The subject of being deaf in a normal society came up, in a moment of clarity. I started to see the bigger picture. My mother raised me up as normal as possible, along with my younger brother and sister who both have integrated normally into society - married with kids and great jobs.
Me on the other hand, not so much success as they have. Don't get me wrong, I am happy for their success in life. I am proud of them. My sister recently had twins and I'm proud of the fact she has done so well with her life and I want her to know that. My brother worked hard for his successes.
I wish I could have done the same, only if certain people didn't hold me back and I kick myself for letting that happen. It's all because I am deaf. I've been told what I can do and what I can't. I've been told that I would not amount to any kind of normal because I am not like everyone else.
Unfortunately, you can't turn the clock back and redo life again. The only thing I can do is move forward, add supplementary courses and try the best I can.
Well, lets look at what challenges I've faced over the years in the job seeking industry. I think something needs to give way to support the deaf more in the work and job sector. Most employers and recruitment agencies do not make it any easier at all. Granted, there are a few good select people that have actually gone out of their way to help me out. The rest have let me down.
So I think I need to put out a few pointers to potential employers and recruitment agencies. First of all, I want to point out one obvious thing. When one says they are deaf, it means they can't hear.
Interesting, isn't it?
I want to make something clear. It doesn't mean every one of us is 100% deaf. There are a select few that actually are able to hear with a hearing aid but this doesn't mean they can use a phone or understand speech. I categorize myself as deaf because I was diagnosed profoundly deaf. Others might see or think differently on their own categorization.
1. Don't ring / call their numbers and send them a text or email, if they ask you to do so with written communication.
Not all of us can talk on the phone or understand speech. It is like background noise to us. I can pick out voices but I can't understand verbal, spoken language. Video calls are ok but with a speech impediment, that is going to be near impossible if you've never worked with a deaf person before.
2. Don't being scared of dealing with the deaf
I promise you, we are a really nice group of people if you stop to try and learn about us. We have many different ways to communicate if we can't talk. I have a speech impediment so I can understand if you do not understand me the first few times. You will get used to it and be able to eventually understand. Then there's always written communication with a pen, paper or electronic format (using a cellphone, messenger, Whatsapp, and so on). I work in a kitchen with my cousins and even after a year, they still struggle to understand some words that I speak.
3. Give us a chance
Even if you think they are not a suitable match, give them a chance. If you promise to try and help them, then don't fall back into doing nothing about it.
When I first started as an apprentice workshop IT technician, I was given 2 months probationary work. That meant I had to prove myself in the workshop as an apprentice (I wasn't qualified then) and after the 2 months were up, we had a meeting privately away from the office. The bosses told me that I had done so well and that they wanted to keep me on. T told some guys in the office that because I was so good at my job, I never had a completed job come back with issues. Now I look back at my time there, I had learnt a lot and I was building up to 10 computers a day along with virus scanning, data recovery, malware removal and software installation on the new machines.
All because D and T gave me a chance, I was able to grow in the workplace and learnt everything that I needed to know as a technician.
Another example where I had a job working from home. I saw a job advertised by a forum owner who also owned an online IT shop with a business partner, who I also happen to know too. We were just online forum faces with aliases and I had been there for a number of years as a member. He took a chance on me and I went from part-time to full-time in just under 2 years, from being a products administrator to both products administrator and team manager of data capturers based in India (the job was in South Africa).
What he and his business partner had to say was that I was the most consistent product administrator and that for all the product information that was hard to find, I was able to find it and add it to the online products categories. I stayed with them for about 2.5 years, and because the company was not doing so well, I had to leave as I was not getting enough work, hence the drastically reduced income. 6 months later the company closed down.
I was sad about it as I loved this job. I had a lot of flexitime and even with the flexitime, I still had to do jobs that were urgently emailed to me (thankfully that didn't happen often). I've never met these business partners and we trusted each other. Even if there was no room for growth, I was happy with this job as I knew I was making a big difference with my skills and that there were other benefits involved.
4. Ask as many questions as possible
How many people have asked me to excuse them if it's too personal over questions relating to the hearing loss?
Don't apologise.
Ask.
Be as straightforward as possible.
If you need to know, you must ask. Were you born deaf? Have you been like this your whole life? That's not personal for me in any way. I don't mind answering questions related to that as it helps to educate people. Every deaf person has a varying degree of hearing loss. Not one of us is the same. We won't bite, don't be scared to educate yourself by asking as many questions as you need to. In turn, when they have that knowledge, they pass it onto other people. Honestly it helps when everyone starts to understand.
Example: I was at Ponden Home in Selby looking for bedding stuff. I had to explain to the cashier that I am deaf but I do lipread and I can speak well enough. She said ok. I was a bit surprised that she kept herself calm and cool. The majority go into a panic and can't think straight. As soon as I paid for my items that I needed, she got my attention by putting her hand out to get my attention and make sure I was looking at her and signed Thank You. More surprised. I felt good because there are some people out there trying to work with the deaf. It is a good thing. The whole world speaks many different languages and this is no difference as the deaf have their own language too. I would love to have more people like that, not being afraid to try and communicate with deaf people.
I'm 41 years old and arrived into the UK on the 20th of May 2019, hoping for a better life and a better support system. It is not so much different to being in South Africa. I was forced to go through Scope, for a 14 week support program to help me navigate through everything. I had my CV reformatted, I've had my covering letter sorted and we talked about all the things that was holding me back. It was great having P as a support counsellor.
I was hoping to find work in the IT field as an IT Technician but 99% of the jobs require someone to use a phone for tech support, which I cannot provide. It's hard as a deaf person to find work, let alone into the field they love the most. I am passionate about technology. I love building machines and tinkering with hardware. I'm a DIY go-getter and love building other things too. I also give support online to friends and sometimes do remote-desktop support to help those who are not as proficient in IT as I am. I fiddle and break software so that I can learn how to fix it. I am also self-taught so I have some basic HTML / CSS coding on my sleeve.
***Names have been abbreviated to protect their privacy.
The subject of being deaf in a normal society came up, in a moment of clarity. I started to see the bigger picture. My mother raised me up as normal as possible, along with my younger brother and sister who both have integrated normally into society - married with kids and great jobs.
Me on the other hand, not so much success as they have. Don't get me wrong, I am happy for their success in life. I am proud of them. My sister recently had twins and I'm proud of the fact she has done so well with her life and I want her to know that. My brother worked hard for his successes.
I wish I could have done the same, only if certain people didn't hold me back and I kick myself for letting that happen. It's all because I am deaf. I've been told what I can do and what I can't. I've been told that I would not amount to any kind of normal because I am not like everyone else.
Unfortunately, you can't turn the clock back and redo life again. The only thing I can do is move forward, add supplementary courses and try the best I can.
Well, lets look at what challenges I've faced over the years in the job seeking industry. I think something needs to give way to support the deaf more in the work and job sector. Most employers and recruitment agencies do not make it any easier at all. Granted, there are a few good select people that have actually gone out of their way to help me out. The rest have let me down.
So I think I need to put out a few pointers to potential employers and recruitment agencies. First of all, I want to point out one obvious thing. When one says they are deaf, it means they can't hear.
Interesting, isn't it?
I want to make something clear. It doesn't mean every one of us is 100% deaf. There are a select few that actually are able to hear with a hearing aid but this doesn't mean they can use a phone or understand speech. I categorize myself as deaf because I was diagnosed profoundly deaf. Others might see or think differently on their own categorization.
1. Don't ring / call their numbers and send them a text or email, if they ask you to do so with written communication.
Not all of us can talk on the phone or understand speech. It is like background noise to us. I can pick out voices but I can't understand verbal, spoken language. Video calls are ok but with a speech impediment, that is going to be near impossible if you've never worked with a deaf person before.
2. Don't being scared of dealing with the deaf
I promise you, we are a really nice group of people if you stop to try and learn about us. We have many different ways to communicate if we can't talk. I have a speech impediment so I can understand if you do not understand me the first few times. You will get used to it and be able to eventually understand. Then there's always written communication with a pen, paper or electronic format (using a cellphone, messenger, Whatsapp, and so on). I work in a kitchen with my cousins and even after a year, they still struggle to understand some words that I speak.
3. Give us a chance
Even if you think they are not a suitable match, give them a chance. If you promise to try and help them, then don't fall back into doing nothing about it.
When I first started as an apprentice workshop IT technician, I was given 2 months probationary work. That meant I had to prove myself in the workshop as an apprentice (I wasn't qualified then) and after the 2 months were up, we had a meeting privately away from the office. The bosses told me that I had done so well and that they wanted to keep me on. T told some guys in the office that because I was so good at my job, I never had a completed job come back with issues. Now I look back at my time there, I had learnt a lot and I was building up to 10 computers a day along with virus scanning, data recovery, malware removal and software installation on the new machines.
All because D and T gave me a chance, I was able to grow in the workplace and learnt everything that I needed to know as a technician.
Another example where I had a job working from home. I saw a job advertised by a forum owner who also owned an online IT shop with a business partner, who I also happen to know too. We were just online forum faces with aliases and I had been there for a number of years as a member. He took a chance on me and I went from part-time to full-time in just under 2 years, from being a products administrator to both products administrator and team manager of data capturers based in India (the job was in South Africa).
What he and his business partner had to say was that I was the most consistent product administrator and that for all the product information that was hard to find, I was able to find it and add it to the online products categories. I stayed with them for about 2.5 years, and because the company was not doing so well, I had to leave as I was not getting enough work, hence the drastically reduced income. 6 months later the company closed down.
I was sad about it as I loved this job. I had a lot of flexitime and even with the flexitime, I still had to do jobs that were urgently emailed to me (thankfully that didn't happen often). I've never met these business partners and we trusted each other. Even if there was no room for growth, I was happy with this job as I knew I was making a big difference with my skills and that there were other benefits involved.
4. Ask as many questions as possible
How many people have asked me to excuse them if it's too personal over questions relating to the hearing loss?
Don't apologise.
Ask.
Be as straightforward as possible.
If you need to know, you must ask. Were you born deaf? Have you been like this your whole life? That's not personal for me in any way. I don't mind answering questions related to that as it helps to educate people. Every deaf person has a varying degree of hearing loss. Not one of us is the same. We won't bite, don't be scared to educate yourself by asking as many questions as you need to. In turn, when they have that knowledge, they pass it onto other people. Honestly it helps when everyone starts to understand.
Example: I was at Ponden Home in Selby looking for bedding stuff. I had to explain to the cashier that I am deaf but I do lipread and I can speak well enough. She said ok. I was a bit surprised that she kept herself calm and cool. The majority go into a panic and can't think straight. As soon as I paid for my items that I needed, she got my attention by putting her hand out to get my attention and make sure I was looking at her and signed Thank You. More surprised. I felt good because there are some people out there trying to work with the deaf. It is a good thing. The whole world speaks many different languages and this is no difference as the deaf have their own language too. I would love to have more people like that, not being afraid to try and communicate with deaf people.
I'm 41 years old and arrived into the UK on the 20th of May 2019, hoping for a better life and a better support system. It is not so much different to being in South Africa. I was forced to go through Scope, for a 14 week support program to help me navigate through everything. I had my CV reformatted, I've had my covering letter sorted and we talked about all the things that was holding me back. It was great having P as a support counsellor.
I was hoping to find work in the IT field as an IT Technician but 99% of the jobs require someone to use a phone for tech support, which I cannot provide. It's hard as a deaf person to find work, let alone into the field they love the most. I am passionate about technology. I love building machines and tinkering with hardware. I'm a DIY go-getter and love building other things too. I also give support online to friends and sometimes do remote-desktop support to help those who are not as proficient in IT as I am. I fiddle and break software so that I can learn how to fix it. I am also self-taught so I have some basic HTML / CSS coding on my sleeve.
***Names have been abbreviated to protect their privacy.
I can see now its not easy, i never knew this before
